The present invention relates to a culinary tool, such as a fork, knife or spoon, and especially to a culinary tool handle which is maintained in a sterile condition when used by multiple users.
In the past, it has been common for salad bars in public restaurants to have various tools, such as salad tongs, forks, spoons and the like, to have placed by the salad bar for the public to use in making a salad. A restaurant patron may use salad tongs to grab various types of salad greens, such as lettuce or spinach, for deposit on a salad plate and then use a fork for selecting other items and a spoon for the salad dressing. These culinary tools are handled by a large number of patrons at the restaurant and are prone to picking up germs and microbiological agents and the like from each of the patrons making a salad. This easily allows common as well as infectious bacteria to pass from one person to another as patrons proceed through a salad bar line. It thereby becomes advantageous to have culinary tools which are constantly sterilized by the destruction of microbiological agents, such as bacteria, on a continuous basis as each patron uses the culinary tools. It is also important that a disinfectant be used that is not harmful to a patron using the culinary tool and that culinary tools do not have excess disinfectants on the handles. It is also important to have a disinfectant handle which is firmly affixed to the culinary tool and at the same time can be rapidly changed to maintain disinfecting surfaces.
The present invention provides for a rapidly changeable handle for a culinary tool, such as tongs, a fork or a knife, which will maintain the handle in a sterile condition for a long period of time through a large number of users of the tool. It also helps maintains the user's hands in a generally sterile condition so as to avoid the spread of bacteria.
In the prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,140 to Visco et al., a sanitary handle cover is provided for fitting over door knobs to separate the user's fingers from coming into contact with the knob and which disinfects the external surface of the knob or handle in order to protect the fingers from contamination.
In the prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,957 to Tozer, a sanitizable cushioned sheath for the handle of a culinary knife is used to provide a user with enhanced comfort and support. The handle sheath is molded of a flexible material and is stretched over a conventional handle so that it can be removed and replaced. The handle sheath may also be provided with an internal flushing mechanism for sanitizing the interior of the sheath without requiring it to be removed from the handle.
In the Butterfield U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,521 a door knob sanitizing device is secured on the rear end of a door knob housing on the backing plate behind the door knob. The housing has slots in the front thereof so that disinfectant vapors can reach the door knob.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,942 to Crace, a disinfectant tape is suitable for mounting on a substrate facility to enable a user to disinfect his or her hands during use of the facility. The tape is enclosed in a liquid-proof cover, such as a shrink sealed package, aluminum or other metal foil, and has a perforate tape cover layer and a central liquid disinfectant containing foam layer along with a double adhesive-backed lower layer and a bottom release liner. The tape is used for door knobs and urinal handles and the like.
The C.P. Abbott U.S. Pat. No. 1,491,780 is for a sanitary handle knob and the like in which the knob has a plurality of holes therein.
The present invention on the other hand is directed towards a culinary tool, such as used at salad bars, and especially to tongs, forks and spoons for which the pubic continuously uses in making a salad at a salad bar and which is used by large number of patrons. The present invention provides for a quickly removable handle for a special culinary tool made to receive the handle which continuous sterilizes the handle during use by the public and which can disinfect the hands of the user at the same time.